It’s been seven years since the Russellville Lady Cyclones volleyball team has played for a state championship. RHS head coach Cindy Jones said Friday she didn’t think she’d be nervous to be on this stage again. She was wrong.

“I told the girls before we played Mountain Home that I thought I was more nervous and anxious than they were,” she said. “I didn’t think I’d be this excited, but I am.”

It doesn’t help that Russellville (24-11) will face Greenwood (17-13) in tonight’s Class 6A state championship — a team they’ve faced twice this season in conference play. The Lady Cyclones defeated the Lady Bulldogs 3-1 in Russellville and lost 1-3 at Greenwood, where the Lady Cyclones won three straight matches over Sheridan, Benton and Mountain Home to reach tonight’s finale.

Perhaps, it will come down to which team executes at the right moments and whoever wants it more.

So which team wants it more? Jones said she knew the answer to that question.

“I’ve never seen a team that refused to quit like this team,” Jones said. “It’s unbelievable. I’ve never seen a team that wants it as bad as they do.

There is no doubt in my mind after the last game that they want it.”

Russellville trailed Mountain Home 2-0 in Thursday night’s semifinal, then trailed 2-0 in the third set.

Many teams may have called it a good effort, satisfied that they had made it that far, and quit.

Not the Lady Cyclones. Russellville battled back, won the next three sets and earned a spot in tonight’s championship match.

In fact, that’s been the story the entire season for RHS. The Lady Cyclones battled back on Senior Night and beat then top-ranked Fort Smith Southside with a late rally that set Cyclone Gymnasium on fire with excitement.

The strategy for Greenwood is business as usual — for the most part.

“We’ve watched them [Greenwood] all week,” Jones said. “We watched film this morning. There’s something that we’re going to do a little different than the last time we played them.

But mostly we’re just going to show up and play our game.”

In particular, Jones said the Bulldogs had an outside hitter who gave the team some trouble in their last meeting.

“We’ve got a little bit of a blocking scheme we’re going to do on her,” Jones said. “We’ve got to pass the ball well.

Other than that, we’re just going to do what we do.”

The Lady Cyclones are excited, nervous — but they’re also confident and focused.

Jones explained she tries to get the players to focus on the match and not the events surrounding the match.

“They’ve been so excited and we’ve had so much going on, it’s hard to focus on the game,” the coach said.

“I just try to get them to focus on the game.

Once you get to the championship, you’re there. You’ve done the hard part. You can just relax and play.”

Jones encouraged anyone and everyone to come to Valley View High School near Jonesboro to support the girls.